AC Installation in Alexandria, MN
A new air conditioner in Alexandria will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Douglas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then it sits idle
Alexandria only needs air conditioning in July and August. Summer afternoons average 78°F, which is not brutal, but a new system still has to be sized and installed to handle those two months well, then sit through the rest of the year without trouble.
A new central air conditioner here has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2. It also has to survive what the weather brings even when it isn't running. Douglas County has logged 22 hail events and 44 damaging wind events over the past ten years. An outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, so how it's installed and protected matters as much as how it's sized.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 13.4 SEER2
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Going above the federal minimum saves little here, about $20 a year.
Estimates for a typical Douglas County home, from EIA household energy data, Minnesota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Minnesota has no state license for HVAC contractors.
Minnesota does not license or register HVAC contractors for home work. There is no state test to pass and no state record of who does this kind of work. Whatever oversight exists here comes from somewhere other than a state license.
For an air conditioner installation, that oversight is the permit and inspection most cities and counties require. The local building office signs off on the permit, and once the work is done, someone comes out to inspect it. In most places that covers a job like this one, though it depends on the local building office rather than the state.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- It depends on your home's square footage, insulation, window area, and layout, not just a rule of thumb. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which looks at your walls, windows, and ceiling height room by room. An oversized unit cools fast but cycles too often and leaves the air damp. An undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up on the hottest afternoons.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If the indoor coil and outdoor unit were matched when installed, replacing only the outdoor unit can throw that match off. The two are designed to work together, and pairing an old coil with a new condenser often means the system never reaches its rated efficiency. Age matters too. If the indoor coil is old enough to fail soon after, most contractors will recommend replacing both at once.
- Do HVAC contractors in Alexandria need a state license to work on my home?
- No. Minnesota has no state license or registration for HVAC contractors doing home work. That does not mean there is no oversight on the job itself. Installing a new air conditioner typically needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it is done. Ask any contractor you are considering about their experience and insurance directly, since the state will not have a license to check.